Communications

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

Copies of contracts for "FinFisher" and/or "FinSpy" technology and related services over the past 5 years. If retrieving the contracts themselves is too burdensome please provide a list of contracts. Please include any processing notes made in completing this request.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

I would like to appeal and request a new search on request number 74831. Your response states "Information pertaining to contract and acquisition data is not typically stored or retrievable using keywords or "technology and related services" information." However, other government agency contracts are available for keyword search at sites such as fbo.gov. Given that FinFisher and FinSpy are recognizable software brands I believe that this contract information should be searchable.

We have received multiple status checks for FOIA requests you initiated via MuckRock for which the respected cases have already been closed. In a few instances you have asked for a status check in one case in which the corresponding topic of your request does not align with the Case Number. In a couple of other instances, you have asked for the status of appeals and we have provided an alternate email alias to use when checking on your appeals.

This email responds to status checks in Cases 74831 & 74751. In order to provide a clear response to the automated MuckRock submissions, I can provide you with a final overview of each case as a courtesy.

Case 74831: Received 12 Sep. 2013 for contracts with "FinFisher" and/or "FinSpy." The final (and only) FOIA response letter was dated 20 Sep. 2013, and your FOIA Case 74831 was closed on or about that same day.Appeal to 74831: Received 17 Oct. 2013, and assigned Appeal #3851. The NSA response letter to your Appeal was dated 6 Jan. 2015, after which that appeal action was closed.

Case 74751: Received 9 Sep. 2013 for contracts with "Blue Coat." The final (and only) FOIA response letter was dated 30 Sep. 2013, and you FOIA Case 74751 was closed on or about that same day.Appeal to 74751: Received 29 Oct. 2013, and assigned Appeal # 3857. Your appeal is still being processed by our General Counsel (GC) office. You can contact the GC office regarding your appeal via email at FOIA_Appeal_Status@nsa.gov<mailto:FOIA_Appeal_Status@nsa.gov>. Please note that the FOIA Office fax machine and the FOIArsc@nsa.gov<mailto:FOIArsc@nsa.gov> are not the appropriate avenues to submit status checks for your appeals.

This email represents our final response to your status checks in Cases 74831 and 74751. Any further inquiries regarding the FOIA processing of those cases will be filed without any additional action.Regards,Cindy BNSA/CSS FOIA Requester Service Center(301)688-6527